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Black Tag Watches
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
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The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
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Pre-Owned Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase 18K White Gold — Limited Edition of 500 (Ref. 5038G)
In 1977, Patek Philippe introduced the calibre 240 — the micro-rotor automatic that gave the maison an ultra-thin base movement to build its next four decades of complications on. The 5038G is one of the earliest limited editions where the same calibre carried a perpetual calendar.
Available now at Black Tag Watches (Aventura, Florida), this pre-owned example — reference 5038G, Limited Edition of 500 — is cased in 18K white gold with a black semi-matt dial, powered by the manufacture calibre 240 Q, and offered in mint condition with a Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives dated 1997.
What Is the Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase 5038G?
The Calibre 240 and Its Role in Patek's Modern Complications
Patek Philippe introduced the calibre 240 in 1977 — an ultra-thin automatic base movement built around a 22K gold off-centre micro-rotor, developed specifically to allow the maison to construct complicated automatic watches at proportions a conventional full-rotor architecture could not achieve. The perpetual variant, calibre 240 Q, extended that base into the maison’s canonical modern perpetual-calendar family, and it has since powered a substantial subset of Patek’s modern automatic perpetual references. The 5038G is one of the earliest limited-series references where the 240 Q carried a full perpetual complication in this specific dial architecture.
A Finite 500-Piece White-Gold Edition
The 5038G was launched in 1996 and delivered through 1997 as a limited edition of 500 pieces in white gold only. It sold out rapidly on delivery and has since become one of the quieter serious-collector perpetual references in the Patek modern catalogue. For collectors of pre-owned Patek Philippe perpetual calendars, the combination of a finite 500-piece run, a single metal, and a two-year production window is the supply argument — one that distinguishes the 5038G from the longer-running references that surrounded it.
Dial & Case Design: 36mm White Gold, Coin-Edge Bezel
Case Proportions and the Beaded Bezel Signature
The 36mm case is rendered in 18K white gold and stands only 9mm thick — proportions made possible by the calibre 240 Q’s micro-rotor architecture and unusual for a full perpetual calendar in any maker’s catalogue. The case is derived from the reference 3940’s Calatrava geometry, with polished flanks and short tapered lugs, but the 5038G departs from its parent reference in a specific and identifying detail: a coin-edge, beaded bezel that reads as jewelled rather than plain, and gives the reference its “sportier” character within the modern Patek perpetual family. It is the detail that identifies the 5038G across a room.
The Black Semi-Matt Dial
The black semi-matt dial is arranged in the maison’s three-sub-dial perpetual layout: the month and leap-year indicator at 3 o’clock, the date and moon phase at 6, and the weekday with a day-and-night indicator at 9. Applied white Roman numerals mark the hours, a railway-style minute track rings the periphery, and slim white lance hands sweep the field. The Patek Philippe signature and the “Geneve” mark are printed beneath 12 o’clock. The composition is disciplined — every calendar function reads at a glance, and the dial reads as instrument rather than ornament.
Movement: Manufacture Patek Philippe Calibre 240 Q
The Micro-Rotor Architecture and Its Structural Role
Inside the 5038G is the manufacture Patek Philippe calibre 240 Q — an automatic movement of 27 jewels comprising the 240 base and the perpetual-calendar module, running at 21,600 vph (3 Hz) with a 48-hour power reserve. The off-centre 22K gold micro-rotor is what makes the reference’s 9mm thickness possible: a conventional full-rotor automatic would add several millimetres to the case and change the reference’s wearing character entirely. The micro-rotor is not a stylistic choice here but the structural precondition for an ultra-thin perpetual calendar.
Finishing and Poinçon de Genève
Beyond the structural argument, the 240 Q carries the finishing standards Patek attached to every serious calibre in its 1990s catalogue: hand-bevelled bridges with polished edges, Côtes de Genève decoration, perlage on the mainplate, and — as a movement of the period — the Poinçon de Genève certification that the maison used before establishing its own more stringent Patek Philippe Seal in 2009. Visible through the sapphire display caseback, the movement reads as haute horlogerie executed to its maison’s own standards.
Movement Specifications
Specification
Detail
Calibre
Patek Philippe 240 Q, automatic perpetual
Base
Calibre 240 + perpetual module
Rotor
22K gold off-centre micro-rotor
Jewels
27
Frequency
21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Power reserve
48 hours
Certification
Poinçon de Genève
Caseback
Sapphire display
Condition, Provenance & the Extract from the Archives
Why the Extract Is the Substantive Provenance Document
The provenance position on this example warrants specific handling. The watch is offered with its original Patek Philippe winder presentation box but without its original warranty papers, accompanied instead by a Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives dated 1997. That distinction matters. For a Patek reference from 1997, the Extract from the Archives is arguably the more substantive provenance document — issued directly by the maison’s own genealogical records, cross-referencing the specific movement number and case number against Patek’s manufacturing archives, and treated by serious Patek collectors and by the maison’s own service network as the definitive authentication signal. The delivery also includes a gold pusher for calendar adjustment and a new strap. For a limited-edition reference of 500 pieces from within the production window, the Extract-plus-winder-box configuration is a defensible provenance position, and pricing reflects it accordingly.
Condition and Accessories
Detail
Information
Condition
Mint
Box
Patek Philippe winder presentation box
Papers
No original warranty; Extract from the Archives, 1997
Accessories
Gold calendar pusher, new strap
Strap
Black alligator, new
Buckle
Original Patek 18K white gold folding
Full Specifications — Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase 5038G
Specification
Detail
Brand
Patek Philippe
Collection
Grand Complications Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase
Reference
5038G
Production
Limited Edition of 500, white gold only
Years
1996–1997
Case
18K white gold, 36mm
Thickness
9mm
Bezel
Coin-edge beaded
Dial
Black semi-matt, white Roman numerals
Layout
Month/leap year 3, date + moon 6, weekday + day/night 9
Hands
White lance
Movement
Patek 240 Q, automatic perpetual
Rotor
22K gold micro-rotor
Jewels
27
Frequency
21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Power reserve
48 hours
Certification
Poinçon de Genève
Caseback
Sapphire display
Strap
Black alligator, new
Buckle
Original Patek 18K white gold folding
Condition
Mint
Box
Winder presentation box
Papers
Extract from the Archives, 1997
Accessories
Gold calendar pusher
Why Buy a Pre-Owned Patek Philippe 5038G?
A Finite Reference the General Buyer Overlooked
The 5038G has always occupied a specific position in the modern Patek Philippe perpetual-calendar market that its production numbers explain plainly: five hundred pieces produced across two years, in white gold only, distributed through the boutique network before the internet had established itself as the medium of watch collecting. For years it was the reference the well-versed 3940 collector knew about and the general Patek buyer did not. That has shifted materially since the 3940’s own discontinuation in 2007, and again since Patek’s more recent perpetual-calendar references have moved further from the Calatrava-derived case architecture that defines both the 3940 and the 5038G. Auction results at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips over the past decade trace a steadily firming line for the 5038G specifically.
The Calibre, the Bezel, and the Archive Extract
The 5038G trades on three specific things: the calibre 240 Q lineage, the beaded-bezel design signature, and the finite 500-piece production run. Against contemporary Patek Philippe retail on comparable Grand Complications perpetual calendars — and against the current secondary market for the 5140G and 5327G that succeeded the 5038G’s dial architecture — this reference offers direct entry into one of the maison’s finite-production limited editions at a level that rewards horological literacy over badge recognition, with a genuine Extract from the Archives as the provenance anchor and the calibre 240 Q as the horological centre.
Available at Black Tag Watches — Aventura, Florida
Black Tag Watches is a pre-owned luxury watch dealer based in Aventura, FL, specialising in rare, certified, and fully documented timepieces from Patek Philippe and the world’s leading Swiss manufactures.
View the Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase 5038G — Full Details & Pricing
A white-gold 5038G perpetual with the calibre 240 Q inside, an Extract from the Archives from 1997 in the delivery, and the coin-edge bezel that identifies the reference across a room — one of 500 that Patek made, and one of fewer still that surface with documentation intact.
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